Laura's Trip to India

I'm a little late to report this, but Laura finally came to India. Her trip was short, but action-packed. Here's a brief recap.

12 hours after her arrival, we were back at the airport for a flight to Kerala. We spent a day in Cochin (and stayed at probably my favorite hotel ever, the Old Harbour Hotel), before heading to Varkala. The next day were spent at the cliff-side beach and we didn't let the rain get in our way. The timing couldn't have been better...upon heading to the beach on our first day, I exclaimed: I can't believe you are in India! And then right there in front of us was an elephant! Oh, India.

After coming back to Delhi, I set Laura off on her own for the day, while I worked. After exploring Khan Market for a few hours, Laura and Ani headed to Janpath for coffee and then drinks to the Imperial Hotel. I met them there after work and then we went to Ani's house so she could meet everyone.

Friday afternoon we ventured to Old Delhi to see the sights from our rickshaw and to partake in a meat-filled lunch at Karim's. Next, Laura and I headed out for some shopping and hit all 3 Fabindia stores in GK Market! Our next stop was another favorite: Smokehouse Grill. After enjoying a nice dinner, we headed downstairs to meet up with some friends, drink and dance. We didn't let our early wake-up time on Saturday morning get in the way of a fun night.

On Saturday, we were up bright and early for our day trip to Agra. We left at 7am and were joined by Ani, his brother, Bhupinder, his sister, Rajni, her husband, KK, and their daughter, Sheren. 5 hours later we arrived at the Taj Mahal (my 4th and hopefully final trip!).

To see Laura off on Sunday, we had a super yummy brunch at Tonino's, an Italian restaurant. The three of us were joined by Kamlesh and Rajesh, Ani's sister and brother-in-law. With stuffed bellies, we were to Dilli Haat for a final round of shopping. Even though I already own more scarves than one could possibly need, I HAD to buy more! Laura picked up a few gifts - including a few for herself, before we headed home to pack. That evening, we had a quick dinner at Ani's house and made our way to the airport for our farewell.

Only 8 days in India, but Laura is already planning her next trip in 2009. That's a good sign.

Next Stop: Jaisalmer - The Golden City

After our day in Jodhpur, we headed to Jaisalmer where we spent the next 2 1/2 days. We arrived at the train station at 6am and we're greeted by 50 drivers with signs. Thanks to my well-honed foreign tourist senses, I realized that the guy who called out Killa Bhawan was just rattling off hotel names in an effort to fool foreigners. But he was holding a sign for a different hotel, so I figured it out. Ani did not and headed straight for him. I managed to stop the right guy and off we went.

Our hotel was located inside the fort and had an amazing view of the Fort Palace. The sun was just about to come up and we knew we would never wake up this early on our own, so we decided to stay up and enjoy it. We enjoyed morning chai and the sunrise from one of the hotel's many terraces.

After a brief nap, we woke recharged and ready to explore the city. First we tackled the Fort Palace, and then made our way to Gadi Sagar (a small lake and once the main water source) and a several havelis located in town. For dinner, we went to Trio restaurant, and once again enjoyed a great view of the Fort, now lit up.

Day 2 called for my tourist attractions, but at a slower pace. We walked around a bit, stopping by the Jain Temples and also making finalizing plans for our trip outside of the city to see a few more sights and ride camels. Around 4pm, we met our driver and went to the Royal Centaphs, the cremation site of the Jaisalmer royal family, and another beautiful Jain temple. Finally, we arrived at a small village where we were met by our guide and two camels and set off for our sunset tour. But, we were a bit late and we (well, the camels) had to go quite quickly so we could arrive at the dunes by sunset. We made it just in time and literally ran to the top of the dunes for a great view from the top. And there are so prepared for tourists here. One of the guides met us with (semi)-cold beer to enjoy while watching the sunset.

Back in town, we cleaned up and headed out for dinner in a nearby restaurant. Dinner was fine, but the highlight were more drinks on the hotel's terrace afterward. We were in such a prime location and had a great stop to view the happenings in the town below.

On our final day, we did a bit of shopping and picked up an assortment of things including: spices, a wooden box, and a bunch of cute ceramic door knobs to be used one day. Our shopping trip was almost foiled because we were low on cash and none of the ATM machines in town seemed to be working. We ran around in 40+ degree heat to 3 different ones, only to find they were all out of order. Happily, we were able to use a card in one of the stores and the owner let us charge more and returned the balance in cash. Shopping crisis averted.

After all of this excitement, we grabbed a quick lunch (and another quick shower) and made our way to the train station for our 19 hour trip back to Delhi! I was dreading the trip from the beginning, but it wasn't that bad at all. We shared our berth with a mother and daughter, who had also spent the holiday weekend in Jaisalmer. We talked about all sorts of things along the way, which really helped to pass the time.

We took well over 300 photos in Jaisalmer (and another 200+in Jodhpur), so it's impossible to post them all here. I've uploaded a few highlights below, but you'll have to check out the albums on the right for more. And don't worry. Those are only about 100 photos each. Enjoy!

The Fort Palace from our hotel....

...and our hotel from the Fort Palace

12 Hours in the Blue City

We spent Thursday in Jodhpur, which is known as The Blue City. It is located in Rajasthan, land of the maharajas. We arrived around 11:30am by train and left at 11pm that night. With no hotel room, we were forced to spend the day wandering around the city. Fortunately, this proved to be a good thing.

First we headed to Umaid Bhawan Palace, located just outside the city. The royal family still resides in part of the palace, but it also contains a museum and a hotel. Next, we stopped for lunch and then made our way to Mehrangarh Fort, where we spent hours wandering around and enjoyed the amazing views of the all of the blue buildings in the city.

In the evening, we explored the central market for awhile before heading back to the Fort for dinner on the terrace. There were only 5 tables, so it was quiet and romantic and the food was quite tasty. From there, we returned to the train station for the next leg of our trip to Jaisalmer.

A much needed break

I've been working too much lately, including just about the whole weekend, and now I'm ready for a break...or two.

My dear husband has the next 4 weeks off work, thanks to a little Railways athletic competition. Yes, I'm serious. He has 4 weeks off to "train" and then 3 days for the actual event. In any case, we thought we would take advantage of this to enjoy a weekend away and I was planning to take Friday off so we could have a long weekend.

Then I realized that Thursday is a national holiday (it's Gandhi's birthday). So now I'm elated that we will have 4 days to explore another corner of India! After some consideration, we've decided on Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Both places have been on my "to do" list, but Jaisalmer isn't the most accessible place, so it takes some planning - and a willingness to travel by train. So, I'm sucking it up and this Wednesday night we will head to Jodhpur by overnight train. After spending the day there, we will move onward to Jaisalmer by yet another overnight train.

I'm hopeful that both will be worth the long train journey. We'll have over two full days to experience Jaisalmer and hopefully this will include a little camel safari. I'm not sure what they actually mean by safari, but I'm up for anything.

The only part I'm dreading is the much longer overnight train trip back that will have us back in Delhi just for me to show up in the office after lunch. I'm sure that will be a looonnng day. In any case, I would happily trade long days in the office for long train travel across Rajasthan.

All of this excitement will be followed by Laura's first visit to India in less than two weeks! She arrives the night of the 11th, and the following day we are off to Kerala for a few days! While I've been to Kerala before, it is one of my favorite places I've seen in India, so I am more than happy to go back.

Stay tuned for photos and stories from the upcoming adventures!

It's a mad, mad world

On what is becoming an all too frequent basis, I hear a news stories that make me ask, "What kind of place am I living in?"

This happened again yesterday when I read the following headline in the local newspaper: Sacked workers beat CEO to death in Greater Noida. (Noida is a suburb of Delhi and how to lots of MNCs and industries). And now this story has made international headlines - 63 charged with killing the boss who fired them (CNN).

There are lots of instances of "communal violence" in India and this particular instance is being referred to as "industrial violence," which I think they just made up to fit this crazy situation. The government only made things worse when the labor minister said that the man's death should serve as a warning to management: "The workers should be dealt (with) with compassion and should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever that had happened in Noida." What?!?

And so, this is the crazy world I live in now. Where over 70% of the population lives in rural areas, but also where 3 of the most populous cities in the world are located. Where nearly 40% of the people live below the poverty line, but the rich are super-rich (the top 1% has over 16% of the wealth).

So is India really rising? Or even shining?

Finally calling it home?

Well, after 1 year of being back in Delhi and in the same apartment, we finally decided to do a bit of decorating by hanging a few things on the walls.

We also ordered a custom-made dresser for our bedroom to use in place of the too small and poorly made wardrobe. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait another 3 weeks for it to be delievered. But we didn't leave the shop empty-handed that day...we did buy a small wooden shelf for the living room.

For now, you can check out a few photos of the living room and bedroom with our newly hung artwork. While this isn't the final result, it's certainly a step in the right direction.